Police Chief Brent Sinatra drove his pickup truck up the long, sloping driveway that led to his front porch.  Those words his wife had spoken to him still stung.  She had made up her mind, she said.  She was leaving.

Brent wasn’t the kind of man who ever wanted to control his woman.  He, in fact, preferred a strong partner like Makayla.  But when it came to their family cohesion, which was what this was all about, he had to lay down the law.  Nobody was usurping his authority when it came to his family, and his household, he didn’t care how strong she was.

He got out of his truck and made his way up the steps to his front door.  Brent was a big man, tall and muscular, and with a legendary temper to boot.  But he also had a sereneness about him that was equally arresting.  It was always, as his father liked to say, the calm before the storm.

When he entered the house, his wife, Makayla Sinatra, was just coming out of Junior’s room with a stack of t-shirts.  Although Brent’s son Junior, from a previous relationship, was at school, it was apparent to him that when she said she was going to go, she meant Junior too.  Which only worsened the bitter taste in his mouth.

But when he entered the home, and Makayla saw him, she didn’t even break her stride.  “I’m not trying to hear it again, Brent,” she said as she began heading upstairs.

Brent watched her head up.  Makayla was a beautiful, dark-skinned, full-figured woman, with plenty of breasts, hips, and ass.  Everything, Brent came to realize only after meeting her, that he loved on a woman.  But it was much more than outward beauty for Brent.  He actually loved this lady more than life itself.  And the idea that she was leaving him to pursue some fucking career, angered him in ways he could barely verbalize.  He wasn’t losing her.  He couldn’t!

He headed up the stairs behind her.  His sereneness was still there, but it broke as soon as he entered their bedroom and saw that she was already packing.  She wasn’t scheduled to leave until next week, but she was packing now?  It felt like a slap in the face to Brent.  And the suitcase was full, and she was putting those t-shirts in it too.

He held his hands out, as if he was floored.  “What do you think you’re doing?” he asked her.

Makayla didn’t even look at him.  She didn’t think she could.  This was the hardest decision she’d ever had to make.  But she felt so strongly that she had to make it.  “I’m packing.  I told you that on the phone,” she said.

“And what did I tell you?” Brent asked.  They were now standing side by side.  He could smell her wonderful fresh scent.  She could smell his cologne.  It was difficult for both of them.

“I’m not going over that again,” she told him.

“I told you, if you left our home, it was going to be over my dead body.  You can’t just pack up and leave like this, Makayla!”

“I’m not just packing up and leaving as if it’s some afterthought.  I’ve been trying to get you to understand for a long time.  A long time, Brent!  But all you want to do is argue about what I’m not going to do when I’ve been telling you all along what I’m going to do.  But only when I tell you I’ve started packing, you suddenly get the message.”

“Jericho is our home,” Brent made clear.  “This is where our family lives, Makayla.”

“But I can’t stay here!  I’m an attorney.  I’m a great attorney!  But if I stay here all I have to look forward to is showing my skills to one client, your father, because nobody else will hire me.  Not because I’m not a good attorney.  But because I’m a Sinatra.  That’s how crazy it’s gotten around here.”

“What do you expect me to do about that?  Hun, Kay?  I can’t change how these people feel about us!  I earned the right to be chief of police the hard way.  I worked my ass off.  And then that crazy-ass mayor got elected, Cruikshank, and I had no choice but to resign.  Yes, after the mayor died, my father pulled strings to get me my job back.  And yes, he pulled strings to make Bobby interim mayor.”

“So that Bobby could hire you back,” Makayla pointed out, “since the mayor has that authority.”

“That wasn’t the only reason.”

“Oh, yes, it was,” Makayla said.  “Big Daddy will do anything for you.  By hook or by crook.  He knew you didn’t want to work for him.  He knew you wanted your job back.  So he got you your job back.  And he wouldn’t have done it if he didn’t know you were great at your job, and you loved what you were doing.  Well how do you think I feel, Brent?  I’m great at my job, and I love what I’m doing, and I’ve been offered the chance of a lifetime.”

Brent exhaled.  “We went through this before, Makayla.  That D.C. job was your dream job too.  But you made a decision.  You said you would rather be my wife.  And you gave that up, and came to Jericho.  Now you’re telling me that was a big mistake!”

“I’m telling you I lost myself, Brent.  I lost what I love.  I’ve made plenty of room for you, but none for myself.  And that’s not fair!”

But Brent couldn’t see it that way.  “You made a decision,” he said.  “We have a life here.  A family.  And I’m not giving that up to run behind you to some fucking L.A.!  Fuck L.A.!  This is our home, and this is where we will be staying.  And I mean that, Makayla.”

“I’ve been given the job of my dreams.  I’m not turning that down twice.” 

“I said we’re staying, Makayla.”

Makayla stared at him.  He was the love of her life.  But at what cost to her own life?  “I can do what I want,” she said.

And just the way she said it, as if it was already final, angered Brent in a way that even he knew was dangerous.

But instead of taking it out on her, he took it out on her luggage: the symbol of his fear.  He grabbed her luggage, hurried over to the open bedroom window, and tossed it, along with all of its contents, out of that window.  Makayla was stunned.

But not more stunned than Charles.  He had just driven up when he saw that luggage come hurling out of their upstairs window.  “What the fuck?” he asked astounded.

But he didn’t waste time wondering.  He got out of his car and ran into the house.  He could hear them arguing upstairs as soon as he entered the home, so he ran up the stairs two at a time, toward the sound.

When he made it into the bedroom, and saw his son, his heart melted.  Brent was a strong man, a man he trusted above any other.  But when it came to Makayla he was weak.  He could see the pain all over Brent’s handsome face.

“What’s going on up here?” Charles asked.

When Brent saw his father, he turned away, toward the window, and began running his fingers through his thick hair.  He knew he was carrying his emotions on his sleeve.  He didn’t want anybody to see him in such a state.

Makayla, however, worked for Charles.  She was his attorney.  She knew him to be the fairest man she’d ever known.  Even when it came to his children.  “Brent doesn’t want me to go,” she said.

Charles frowned.  She spoke as if he knew what they were arguing about.  “Go where?” he asked.

Makayla was surprised.  She thought Brent would have at least spoken to his father about their problems.  But, as usual, Brent had apparently kept it all inside.  “I got a job offer from a former mentor.  His name is Johnson Dash.”

Charles frowned.  “I’ve heard that name before.”

“He’s a well-known attorney,” Makayla said.  “He handles nothing but high-profile cases.”

“Okay,” Charles said, nodding.  “And where does he handle these cases?”

“He has offices all over, but he’s stationed in California.”

Charles was shocked.  “California?”

Makayla’s heart began to pound.  If she lost Charles too, the fairest man she knew, then she knew she’d lost.  Brent, who suddenly turned around and looked at his father, knew it too.  “Yes, California,” she said.  “Los Angeles, California.”

Charles stared at his beloved daughter-in-law.  “That’s a long-ass way away, Kayla,” he said.

She nodded.  “Yes, I know.  But that’s the offer and that’s where it’s coming from.  Brent doesn’t want me to go, naturally, but I keep telling him we can make a life there just like we did here.”

“Make a life there?” Charles asked, confused.  “But he’s the chief of police.  You can’t expect him to pack up and leave his job like that.”

“Not right away, no.  But what if Bobby loses the election in a few months?  If Winston Kaiser wins, he’s not going to retain Brent as chief.  Then where would he be?”

“Back working with my father,” Brent said.  “Still supporting my family.”

“I know you support us.  I’m not saying you won’t support us, Brent.  I’m saying I can support us until you find work in California.”

“Oh, this is ridiculous!” Brent said.  “There’s no way in hell I’m moving across the country like that.  Jericho is my home!”

“But it’s not mine!” Makayla shot back.  “I can’t live in a place where I can’t be the best I can be.  And if I take up Johnson’s offer, I’ll be living my dream, too.  I don’t want to take yours away.  But I don’t want you to take mine away, either.”

Charles saw the determination and pain also, in Makayla’s eyes.  She was not taking this decision lightly.  She was anguished over it.  “But California, Kayla?” he asked.  “That’s a long-ass way.  I don’t want my children spread out that far from me.”

Makayla knew it was a tough thing for Big Daddy to admit, but she admired him for admitting it.  Everybody in that room had their own selfish reasons.  “I’m not trying to take your son away, Big Daddy,” she said.  “I’m just trying to get my life back.  And working as an attorney, in a once-in-a-lifetime job, is how I can get it back.”

“Do you ever listen to yourself?” Brent asked his wife.

Makayla looked at him.  “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“You talk as if I brought you to Jericho to take your life.  I brought you here to start a family, and to live.  I didn’t know working for some high-powered attorney was your requirement for living, or I would have never . . .”

Brent stopped short of saying what he truly meant.  Charles saw it.  Makayla saw it too.  “Or you would have never what?” she asked him.

“Or I would have never taken you away from that life you wanted,” Brent said.  “I would have never married you and brought you here.”

“I’ll be blunt with you,” Charles said to Makayla.  “I thought, when you agreed to marry Brent and live in Jericho, that all of that dream-job-shit was settled.  I thought you’d made your choice.”

“So did I,” Brent said.

“I had,” Makayla said.  “But this is a once-in-a-lifetime chance!”

“Why haven’t you mentioned to my dad who’s offering you this once-in-a-lifetime chance?”

Charles looked at Brent.  “What do you mean?”

Brent looked at Makayla.  “What do I mean, Kay?”

Makayla frowned.  “He means Johnson Dash is an old friend of mine.  A mentor like I said.”

“A mentor she used to sleep with,” Brent said.

“Oh, shit!” Charles said.  He couldn’t believe it.  “Are you fucking kidding me?”

“What does our past have to do with this?” Makayla asked.  “I’m not taking this job to sleep with him!  I don’t want him, and he doesn’t want me!  I’m taking this job because it’s exactly the job I want.  It’s about the work, and nothing else.”

Although Charles was still stunned by the revelation that put, in his mind, a new light on Makayla’s desires, Brent had had it.  He walked up to her even as he was heading for the exit.  “If you leave,” he said, “you’d better understand one thing.  You will be leaving alone.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?  I’m taking Junior with me.”

“Like hell you are!” Brent said.

“Damn straight!” Charles replied.

“I can’t stop you.  But I sure as hell can stop you from taking our son.  And I’m stopping it.  You go.  But Junior’s staying with me.”

Brent looked at her hard, and then walked out of the door.

Charles looked at Makayla, too.  He empathized with her.  But he went to his son.

 

Brent was at his truck, ready to get inside, when his father came out.  Brent stood at the driver side door.  But instead of getting into the truck, he leaned against it as Charles walked up. “Can you believe her, Pop?” he asked.  “After all this time?”

“I love you, son.  You know I do.  But you’re wrong as hell.”

Brent was so shocked that he leaned off of his truck, and stood erect.  “What?  Wrong?  Me?”

“She has dreams too, Brent.  And it’s unfair that she had to give hers up completely.”

“She can run for District Attorney again.  I told her that.  The townspeople may elect her again.  They did before.”

“She’s an entrenched Sinatra now.  They won’t elect her again.  The only reason Robert stands a chance in that mayoral race is the fact that so many ladies around this town loves him, and have been working their butts off to get him elected.”

“But California, Pop?  She’s talking about taking herself and our son to California.”

“She said the man had offices all over the country, didn’t she?” Charles asked.

“Yeah, she mentioned that.

“Here on the east coast too?”

“Yeah.”

“Like where?”

“In all the big cities.  New York.  Boston.  Philly.”

“Boston?” Charles asked.  “He’s got an office in Boston?”

“Yeah, so?”

“That’s only a couple hours away, Brent.  Why don’t you see if she can work out of the Boston office.  She can commute every day.  Or at least most days.  But at least her dream will be realized.  She’ll be back in that high-powered criminal law world.  And you may just get to keep your wife.”

It was obvious to Charles that Brent had not even thought of the possibility.  Makayla either apparently.  He looked at his son.  “It’s not a zero-sum game, Brenton.  Either you love that woman and wanna keep her.  Or you love your pride and wanna rule her.”

Brent folded his big arms and looked up at the sunny blue sky around them.

“She’s made up her mind,” Charles said.  “She has to get out of this little town that chokes the life out of so many people and stifles their ambitions.  You’ve got to meet her halfway, or she’ll go all the way to California.  It’s called compromise, son.  It’s called keeping your marriage together, son.”

Brent looked at his father.  “Jenay came here to be with you.  I never hear her complaining about leaving Jericho.  I never hear her complaining about this town choking the life out of her.”

“You don’t hear it because I had enough sense to know that I wasn’t going to be enough for her.”

Brent was surprised to hear his father say that. “You are enough for her.”

“Not in the long run,” Charles said.  “And I knew that.  That’s why I put her in charge of my hotel, Jericho Inn.  That’s why I gave her something that she could call her own and make it her own.  All you’ve given Makayla are ultimatums.”

It hit Brent to his core.  Had he failed his own wife?  The woman he loved more than life itself?

“See if she’s willing to work out of Boston, son.  Because you either want her, and is willing to do everything in your power to keep her, or you don’t want her, and aren’t willing to do shit.”

But it wasn’t that cut and dry for Brent.  He couldn’t get over his long-held belief that a woman shouldn’t put a job over her husband and child.  “I don’t know what I want,” he said, got in his truck, cranked up, and sped off.

Charles watched him leave.  Then, on a hunch, he looked behind him.  Makayla was standing at the upstairs window, the same window Brent had tossed her suitcase from, watching too.